Chapter 117: Chang Duan 1/2

Chang Duan’s family was originally happy.

Their ancestors were imperial chefs in the previous dynasty, and their ancestors had always been pondering various dishes, leaving behind a book called “Chang Family Recipes.”

The previous dynasty had long since disappeared, and their family had returned to their hometown of Linhu County, relying on this recipe to open a restaurant.

This restaurant had been open for over a hundred years and had become a well-known brand in Linhu County.

Chang Duan began learning culinary skills at a young age. The ordinary dishes sold in their restaurant were made by hired chefs, but there were also some dishes that only the Chang family could make.

As the heir to the restaurant, he had to learn these dishes.

He grew up in the restaurant, learned excellent culinary skills, married a good wife, and even had a lovely daughter.

As he was thinking about earning more money and saving up dowry for his daughter, something happened to their family!

Every time Chang Duan thought of the Lou family, he felt an itching hatred.

Those people not only killed his father but also fabricated charges, claiming that someone died after eating at their family’s restaurant, and then they arrested him and threw him into prison.

At that time, he thought he was doomed to die, and then he didn’t know if it was lucky or unfortunate… The people from the county office brought him and some other prisoners here.

This place was a stone quarry managed by the Jin Palace, specializing in digging Lihu stones and then selling them to various places.

When he first came here, he was determined to escape, but he endured a lot of beatings. Later, he was afraid of being beaten to death, so he didn’t dare to escape anymore.

It was also here that he met someone who was different from the others, a person named Li Qingzhi.

Most of the laborers working here couldn’t read, but Li Qingzhi could, and he was very knowledgeable.

At one point, Chang Duan wanted to give up escaping, but then he saw the look in Li Qingzhi’s eyes.

Li Qingzhi was as thin as a stick at that time, almost exhausted, but his eyes still burned with a fierce fire… Even at this point, Li Qingzhi still wanted to escape.

After being captured for so many years and his body failing, Li Qingzhi still didn’t give up on escaping. How could he give up?

He began to strive to live.

Only by living could there be hope of getting out!

He wanted to see his family!

After he had an accident, he didn’t know what would happen to his family…

His mother and his wife were both ordinary women with soft personalities, and his younger brother was still young. If the Lou family didn’t let them go…

Just thinking about it made Chang Duan’s heart ache unbearably.

He could only strive to live.

Chang Duan glanced at the laborers who were working.

He was alive, but Li Qingzhi had already died, and it had been nearly a year. Some other laborers he knew when he first came here had also died.

If he were still digging stones, he might have died a long time ago.

Chang Duan felt extremely lucky that he had a trade.

Li Qingzhi could read and do calculations, but there were overseers here with such skills. Li Qingzhi had no place to use his talents.

But he was different!

There were cooks here, but their culinary skills were nowhere near his.

Seeing Li Qingzhi die in front of him, he realized that he couldn’t be just a laborer anymore… He kowtowed to the guards, telling them that his ancestors were imperial chefs and how delicious the food he made was…

The guards and overseers of the stone quarry couldn’t go out on weekdays and didn’t have much enjoyment. The original cook here didn’t have great culinary skills either… They gave him a chance to cook.

Here, fish were the most abundant. Chang Duan prepared a feast using only fish, and then he became the cook for these people.

Throughout the year, he had been striving to cook well, trying to please them in order to gain their trust.

By now, these people had developed a certain level of trust in him. After describing the taste of some dishes from his family’s recipe book, they were even willing to buy various spices and seasonings for him.

Many medicinal herbs could be used in cooking. A few days ago, he used various spices along with some medicinal herbs to stew a pot of braised pork for these people.

They loved it so much that they bought him more medicinal herbs, according to the list he provided.

The medicinal herbs he asked for were all non-toxic, so these people were willing to buy them. However, they didn’t know that even non-toxic herbs, when combined, could cause severe diarrhea or drowsiness.

He never gave up on escaping.

Today, Chang Duan made fish balls, stewed fish head tofu soup, and also stir-fried pig intestines and braised duck.

These fragrant dishes were brought to the overseers, and one of them eagerly tasted a bite before calling over the guards to join in the meal.

“Xiao Chang, your cooking skills are really impressive! What are we having for dinner tonight?” one overseer asked Chang Duan.

Chang Duan replied, “Manager Feng, I’ve already braised the pig offal that was sent over before. The braised pig hearts and livers can be eaten directly, or we can stir-fry them.”

“Let’s eat half directly and stir-fry the other half!” Manager Feng suggested.

“Let’s go with Manager Feng’s suggestion.” Chang Duan smiled.

He planned to tamper with the food tonight, and perhaps then… He might be able to escape with the other laborers.

As for what he would do after escaping, he wasn’t very clear.

He just knew that he had to escape.

Staying here any longer, watching people around him die one by one… He would go mad.

After delivering the food to the overseers, Chang Duan returned to the kitchen.

Ever since he emerged as the cook, the original two cooks here have been despised. Now they mainly assisted him and prepared the food for the laborers.

These two were resentful and often slacked off. For example, at this moment, they were not in the kitchen, and the bean dregs and rice bran for the laborers’ meal had not been cooked yet.

The laborers could only eat twice a day, and what they ate was what pigs usually ate.

For example, rice bran bought from the rice shop or the soybean dregs and sesame dregs left over after oil pressing in the oil mill.

These things were best boiled before being fed to the laborers. However, these two sometimes slackened off and just mixed them with water before sending them over to the laborers.

At first, Chang Duan was too preoccupied to deal with this matter. At that time, the overseers and guards didn’t trust him. Although he got the opportunity to cook for them, he was watched all the time, and when he wasn’t cooking, he was locked up.

But recently, he had gained the trust of those overseers, making his movements much more convenient.

Chang Duan put the bean dregs and rice bran into several large pots, lit the fire, and started cooking.

The bean dregs were not fresh, and it was hot now, emitting a sour smell. Chang Duan stirred the food in the pot, feeling complicated emotions.

Their family used to have some land outside the city, where they hired people to grow vegetables and raise pigs.

The pigs they raised back then ate better than these laborers.

Those pigs not only ate pig food made from rice bran, pumpkin, and vegetables but also got to eat the leftovers from their restaurant. They grew particularly fast.

But the laborers here…

His family would never feed sour-smelling bean dregs to pigs!

After stirring for a while, Chang Duan washed and chopped up some leftovers he had saved from cooking for the overseers and added them to the pot.

These so-called leftovers included duck intestines, fish intestines, pig skin, and the like. These things weren’t particularly tasty, but at least they could give the laborers some extra strength.

After cooking the food, Chang Duan filled buckets and delivered them to the laborers.

The laborers were very happy to see him bring them food.

In the food Chang Duan provided, there would be some “extras,” and he also added salt for them.

Most of the laborers were very grateful to Chang Duan.

When Chang Duan distributed the food, he whispered to the leader among the laborers, “I’ll come find you guys later… Let’s escape.”

Chang Duan did this out of pity for the laborers and because he believed they wouldn’t betray him.

Their lives were tough, and they could lose their lives at any moment. He believed these people would be willing to escape with him.

However, Chang Duan was wrong.